On Thursday, August 1, Grammy award winner, Burna Boy whose real name is Damini Ogulu stated that he has passed on the ‘African Giant’ title to his colleague, Folarin Falana, an entertainment polymath who is known as Falz. African Giant is a name Burna coined for himself in 2019 during his transitional phase into the mainstream.
Though Burna Boy has time and again claimed to be an activist, he has remained a polarizing figure amongst Nigerians- this is due to his controversial personality and indifference towards social issues, though in his music, the singer-songwriter often claims otherwise.
In several songs such as ‘Ye’, ‘Yawa Dey’, to name a few, the Grammy award winner spoke about injustice and impecunious rulership. He explained how the government can fix the nation and do well to appease the citizens, further, Burna via his music claimed to be the ‘new school Fela’, a title that several modern artistes have tried to claim, albeit, none have been able to achieve the prominence and influence of the Afrobeats connoisseur, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
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While serious issues emerged, Burna continued to stay away from acknowledging the reality of his fellow citizens. Understandably, the singer-songwriter is a celebrity, hence, he might not experience the turmoil of the average Nigerian citizen, however, Burna has stayed in his luxurious apartment to talk about ‘being a common person’.
In 2020 during the #EndSars protest, Burna was nowhere to be found, while he gained prominence by discussing the struggles of a black person and criticized the government through his music, Burna did not join other notable figures to speak against police brutality and injustice in the state. As a matter of fact, this was where Nigerians began to see him as a faux activist; interestingly, it served as the emergence of Falz and popular skitmaker, Debo Adedayo as major influencers and voices of the masses.
Amid the numerous controversies hovering around the self-acclaimed African Giant, he was never acknowledged as an activist.
The Retired African Giant…
As stated at the commencement of this article, Burna Boy has now handed over his acclaimed African Giant title to his colleague, Falz the Bahd Guy.
Burna Boy disclosed this on X.com on Thursday as he broke silence on why he distanced himself from the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests.
In his tweet, the singer stated that the fight in him died in 2020 during the ENDSARS protest, when some protesters made calls to boycott his music.
“The fight in me died on this day. Ogun go doggy, anybody wey call my name this time around,” Burna Boy wrote, reacting to an old video from October 2020, where some protesters were heard shouting, “Don’t play Burna o, we don’t want Burna.”
Burna Boy’s post sparked reactions from X users who called him out in the comment section over his silence in the ongoing protest.
Tweeting anonymously as #boymanager0, an X.com user commented, “Oga, shut up. Because they did you bad doesn’t mean you should give up. U taught us to keep fighting in your songs, but u dey here dey cap nonsense.”
“I taught you to keep fighting your oppressors, but you chose to fight me,” Burna Boy replied.
